Mythpower in Short Stories

By James N. Frey

This article was originally published in the
German magazine TextArt: Magazin für Kreatives
Schreiben (The magazine for creative writers) in
a question/answer column.

How can I use the principles of story telling
using
the power myth (as shown in your book THE KEY)
for
writing short stories? Or
is
this impossible?

It's not at all impossible, in fact, mythic
structures
and functions are powerful tools for the short
story
writer. Let me start with an overview of using
the
power of myth in modern fiction in general, and
then
get down to specifics involving the short story.

The power of myth involves fictional motifs and
characters that were used by the mythopoets of
ages
gone by which have been shown to have a profound
effect on the reader. Mythologists call these
motifs
and aspects of character "functions."

Some of more important functions are, as an
example,
that the hero has courage, that the hero
self-sacrifices for others, that the hero leaves
the
world of the everyday and enters into a
mythological
woods where he or she will be tested, that the
hero
has a death and rebirth experience, that the hero
has
a confrontation with "the evil one," and so on.

In my book, THE KEY: Using the Power of Myth to
Write
Damn Good Fiction, I demonstrated how these
fictional
motifs and aspects of character are found in
modern
novels and films, such as THE GODFATHER and GONE
WITH
THE WIND.

Joseph Campbell the mythologist titled his THE
HERO
WITH A THOUSAND FACES just that because of this
phenomena of the same character traits and the
actions
of the hero on what is called "the hero's
journey"
being repeated endlessly through the centuries.
Campbell pointed out that the structure myth
takes is
also very commonly repeated, so much so that he
called
hero's journey THE MONOMYTH, meaning, of course,
that
all myth was one myth.

I'll give you a sketch of the Monomyth. Of
course not
all myths include every function, but in general
in
the Monomyth the story opens with the hero in the
world of the everyday (this part is called
"separation"), dealing with his or her every day
conflicts and problems. Then THE HERALD comes
and
brings the hero a CALL TO ADVENTURE. The call is
usually some sort of mission on behalf of a
community,
usually to get some sort of PRIZE. The Golden
Fleece,
as an example, in the ancient my "Jason and the
Argonouts". The "lector" in Ian Flemming's "From
Russia with Love" is a modern example. The hero
may
or may not answer the call. If the hero refuses
the
call, he or she will suffer and fall into a
psychological and social decline until coming to
their
senses. When the hero accepts the call, the hero
will
seek advice from THE MENTOR, get weapons for his
adventure from THE ARMORER, and perhaps some
magic
from a MAGICAL HELPER. A THRESHOLD GUARDIAN will
usually warn the her of the dangers ahead, but
the
hero brushes aside these warnings and CROSSES THE
THRESHOLD and enters the MYTHOLOGICAL WOODS.
This
part of the myth is called "the Initiation."

During his or her initiation, the hero will LEARN
THE
NEW RULES and BE TESTED. Some of the tests her
hero
will pass, some he or she will fail. Along the
way,
the hero may have A SIDEKICK, may meet women in
various guises such as MOTHER, GODDESS, WITCH,
WHORE,
BITCH, FEMME FATALE; and will be in conflict with
THE
EVIL ONE and the EVIL ONE'S MINIONS. During the
initiation several things may happen, the hero
may BE
BETRAYED, may HAVE A CHANGE OF CONSCIOUSNESS, may
FALL
IN LOVE, may CHANGE COSTUME, and MAY LOSE A LOVE
ONE
TO DEATH. The most important motif is the DEATH
AND
REBIRTH which may be, say, a near death and
rebirth,
or may be a symbolic death and rebirth. The
initiation often culminates in a CONFRONTATION
WITH
THE EVIL ONE which usually takes place in the
evil one
lair. Here the hero may be killed or fail in his
or
her mission, or may have a temporary victory over
the
evil one and take possession of the Prize. The
story
now moves to the third part of the monomyth, "the
return."

On the return the hero is RETESTED. Having
learned
the new rules and passed some tests, found some
new
facets of his or her own character and learned
some
new skills. On the journey home, the hero is
often
pursued by the Evil One. Some of the motifs
found in
the initiation may be repeated, but since the
hero has
changed, the hero will handle them better. On
the
return there is often another CONFRONTATION WITH
THE
EVIL ONE and often here the evil one is killed.
Once
back in the his community, the hero may have
other
dilemmas, the PRIZE MAY NOT BE VALUED, as an
example,
or, A FALSE HERO MAY CLAIM CREDIT. The most
important
aspect of the hero's journey is THE
TRANSFORMATION of
the hero. A fearful and naive young woman might
be
transformed, say, into a confident and
sophisticated
one. Or, say, a drunken misfit pool shark, might
become a responsible lover.

The above description is the bare bones of the
mythic
structure and some of the more common motif's.
It's
easy to see how THE GODFATHER fits this mold.
Michael
Coreleone gets A CALL TO ADVENTURE by the
shooting of
his father. He is acting out of SELF SACRIFICE
for
others, for his community, the crime family. He
receives advice from MENTORS on how to kill, he
shoots
The Turk and a police captain, MINIONS OF THE
EVIL ONE
in their lair (well, a restaurant of their
choosing)
and has a long "return" to his community. He
meets
the WOMAN AS GODDESS in Sicily and FALLS IN LOVE.

She's killed in the motif THE HERO LOSES A LOVED
ONE
THROUGH DEATH. In the end he has been
transformed
into the new Godfather and has a FINAL
CONFRONTATION
WITH THE EVIL ONE.

Ah, great, you say, but THE GODFATHER is a long
novel
with plenty of space to show all this character
transformation and tests and trials and so on.
But
how about a short story? There is no room for
all
these characters, tests, trials, and motifs in a
few
thousand words.

Okay, true, there is not as much space in a short
story, but even in a short story a lot may
happen.
When lecturing on the MONOMYTH to my students I
often
cite an example of the exploitation of the mythic
form
and motifs in a short story of about 4500 words
called
"Saint Marie" by Louise Erdrich, included in LOVE
MEDICINE (1993).

"Saint Marie" opens with the hero, Marie Lazarre,
an
Ojibwa Indian girl already on her journey.
Starting
after THE CALL TO ADVENTURE of course shortens
the
telling. Marie is on her way to becoming a nun
at the
Sacred Heart Convent near her home on the Ojibwa
reservation. Her mission is to become an Indian
saint. At Sacred Heart convent (Her MYTHOLOGICAL
WOODS) she first has to LEARN THE NEW
RULES--constant
prayer, unending toil--and she confronts Sister
Leopolda, THE EVIL ONE who TESTS her by pouring
boiling water in her ear, making her sleep by the
furnace, and other tortures. In the course of
the
events many common mythological motifs are
exploited,
including A CHANGE OF COSTUME, and a wonderful
DEATH
AND REBIRTH. In THE FINAL CONFRONTATION with the
Evil
One, Marie pushes the evil one into a bread oven,
but
the evil one bounces back out and stabs Marie
with
fork in her hand, giving her the stigmata and
conferring on her sainthood. Marie has been
transformed from being just another raggedy,
anonymous
Indian girl into a religious icon with nuns
worshipping at her feet.

Another example can be found in Amy Tan's THE JOY
LUCK
CLUB (1989), entitled "The Red Candle." The hero
is a
young Chinese girl who's CALL TO ADVENTURE comes
when
she is two years old and the matchmaker (THE
HERALD)
comes and she is betrothed to a young boy,
Tyan-yu.
The hero starts on her hero's journey when she is
twelve years old and goes to the house of her
mother-in-law, Huang Taitai, the EVIL ONE The
hero
learns the new rules--that she is actually a
slave, is
tested by being shamed, harassed, and criticized
constantly. There's the CHANGE OF COSTUME at the
wedding where she finds new strength within
herself,
and has a DEATH AND REBIRTH EXPERIENCE and then
CONFRONTS THE EVIL ONE and defeats her in a very
clever way. The HERO IS TRANSFORMED from a shy,
frightened girl, into a strong confident woman.

Now then, how can one use these powerful motifs
in
ones own work?

What confuses fiction writers when learning their
craft is the lack of precise language used to
describe
aspects of the craft, including the definition of
a
short story. The philosophical musings of a mad
man
might be considered a short story. A slice of
life
vignette is sometimes called a short story. A
confession might be called a short story.

In the past it was more clear what a short story
was.
It was simply a short ficitonal work with a
beginning,
middle, and end. It was "about" something. It
was
about greed or love or ambition, it had, what I
described at length in HOW TO WRITE A DAMN GOOD
NOVEL
(1988), a "premise."

This type of short story I now call a "dramatic"
short
story to differentiate it from other fictional
forms.
Dramatic short stories are characterized by
having a
transformation of a character through a dramatic
struggle. Myth based stories are always of this
type.

Now then, about the mythic motifs and characters.

Just as writing a novel, what you do when you're
dreaming up your story is ask yourself if it
would be
stronger if you included some of these mythic
elements.

Say, as an example, you have an story you want to
tell
of an unhappy woman, Susan, who is a dutiful wife
to
an uncaring, unloving husband. Susan leads a
drab,
unhappy life at work as a secretary in a funeral
parlor besides doing her domestic duties at home.

Then she wins a contest--ten free dance lessons
at a
dance studio. At the dance studio she has
trouble
overcoming her shyness, her clumsiness, her lack
of
social skills, but eventually she falls in love
with
an elevator repair man ten years younger. She's
transformed by this experience in some way. This
is
what I would call a dramatic in which a character
is
transformed through a dramatic struggle.

We also have here the bare bones outline of a
hero's
journey. She's in the EVERYDAY WORLD (her work
at the
funeral home, a symbol for the dead life she
leads),
she gets her CALL TO ADVENTURE (winning the
contest),
she goes into the MYTHOLOGICAL WOODS (a strange
and
magical place to her--the glittering dance
studio)
where she LEARNS THE NEW RULES (how to dance, how
to
let yourself be swept up by the music) and is
TESTED
(let's say, by new and powerful sexual and
romantic
feelings). Now then, we can ask ourselves about
the
other elements of myth and if our story would be
made
stronger by the inclusion of these elements. As
an
example, is the husband to be not just an
antagonist
but an EVIL ONE. In the process of
transformation,
should Susan have a DEATH AND REBIRTH and what
would
it be? Does she get A CHANGE OF COSTUME? What
is THE
PRIZE?

Okay then, here's an outline of our story after
including some of these elements:

Our hero, Susan, is at her desk at the funeral
home
consoling a bereaved customer (the hero is always
GOOD
AT WHAT THEY DO FOR A LIVING) who can't pay his
bill,
when the CALL TO ADVENTURE comes--she's won ten
free
lessons at a dance studio. At home that night,
her
selfish Evil One husband forbids her to go, but
she
sneaks out while he's out drinking with his
friends.
At the dance studio, she's at first clumsy, but A
MENTOR teaches her how to move, how to be swept
up
with the music, and encourages her to CHANGE
COSTUME.
She meets Eric, the younger elevator operator,
mythological character THE HERO'S LOVER, who is
kind
and gentle and is taking lessons because he's
always
been afraid of women. After the ninth session
they go
to a real dance where they dance into the night
and
they imagine they're young lovers without a care
in
the world. Susan drinks too much Champaign and
HAS A
CHANGE OF CONSCIOUSNESS, but the EVIL ONE husband
comes to take her home and she has A
CONFRONTATION
WITH THE EVIL ONE. She looses this
confrontation, and
with it, the prize of love. But at home, she
falls
into despair and thinks of suicide, which is A
SYMBOLIC DEATH AND REBIRTH, but instead of
killing
herself, she decides she's had it with her life
and
from now on, she's going to dance every day.
What
follows is A FINAL CONFRONTATION WITH THE EVIL
ONE and
she wins the true prize--her freedom of spirit,
and is
thereby transformed.

So that's how it works. As you dream up your
story
you keep asking yourself if these motif's would
help
your story to be stronger, and if they would, you
exploit them.

Let's say Susan's father used to own the Funeral
Home
where she works. I think the title should be:
"The
Dance of the Funeral Director's Daughter."